Gazza

How was I being rude? So, is this from a direct observation of the ride, or actually seeing motors in there (Eg if the cover was off), or from the mouth of someone in maintenance etc? Thing is, its an off the shelf ride, and while structural modifications would be something common when a park is installing a clone (Given every site is different) but they aren't going to adding weight (and extra potential friction losses given the wheels attached would be attached to motor) and just mechanically modifying a train for the sake of it, when they can just have friction wheels on the track like on every other installation. Guess the only way to settle this is to take a picture of the maintenance bay next time I'm there. Edit: Just looking at some other SLCs, you can see the back car on Blue Tornado doesn't have any rear motors, http://www.rcdb.com/ig961.htm?picture=6

Its just the zero car, which is a feature seen on trailered coasters. What trailered means is that instead of each car having wheels at the front and the back (Like on Scooby Doo for example) each car only has one pair of wheels, and is supported by the one behind, progressively, until you get to the back car with no seats (Of course, this arrangement can be reversed, with the zero car at the front) The connector between the last row of seats and the zero car doesn't have the ability to pivot in the pitch axis, so this means the back car and the zero car are sort of one unit, hence forming a stable rear of the train. A few other examples of zero cars: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...pe_s_Train.html The small nose cone on Superman is the zero car, and this is where Intamin places it on their trains. http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/US/Tampa/Bus...Corkscrews.html On Kumba, that rather cool looking thing on the front the zero car, and B&M uses zero cars on some of their models. http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/US/Valencia/...n_The_Ride.html Some of B&Ms models actually do have seats on the zero car....Look closely at the cars on the train, notice how they all fan out as they go around the loop, but the front two cars are actually parallel with each other and not fanning out from each other....because the front car is the zero car in this case. http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...Sidewinder.html On Cyclone, the zero car is not much of a car at all, really just a pair of wheels you can see dangling off the back of the train. EDIT: Nope, whats this? As long as there is at least one set of friction wheels making contact with a train, it doesn't matter if there are sections without them. Besides, there couldn't be motors in the car, because there isn't a set of electrical contacts running along the track.

Yeah, I went on Sunday. First time there, what can I say? Just like any other show, few rides, shows, and of course exhibitions of peoples stuff, the rest of course was really like any trade show, with stands selling Tupperware, Special pillows and the like. They had a science pavilion. The QUT run section didn't quite have the same 'gloss' as the UQ section, despite having more real world experience. They had a government pavilion, where I watched an animation of the Airport link tunnel (Why are they bothering with that? Do people in the inner suburbs want to get to the airport that badly) Anyone noticed how much the Qld Government sticks their logo around everywhere (On signs, buildings etc) Kind of creepy that they constantly remind you of their presence. They had a police pavillion, but it seemed pretty negative in there. They had a number of food stands, and they all had the same recording going, with buzzwords such as "Dairy fresh cream" They had a lot of rides, but I couldn't really be bothered spending money on them...you sort of have to be in the right mood to be spun around. Personally I think carnival rides could appeal to their target market if they painted their rides and signs to match the majority of things aimed at teens, instead of weird phrases such as "#1 Rock n Roll Extreme Ride" stuck on the ride in block letters made of that holographic contact stuff. I never realised there was a skyride at the showgrounds, but again I was too tight to ride. Maybe next time I will visit with a coat-hanger, and drop it when you go over the trainline, and short circuit the catenary as a hillarious prank. The show bag shed was very busy, they seemed to have become really bad value in recent years, and the cost per bar or whatever in the chocolate based bags is not really any better than multipacks from the supermarket. I just got a $1.20 Bertie Beetle one because it was cheap, and is an icon. I went on the train to get there, so nice of them to build a station that gets used a few days per year. But on the way home I walked down to Brunswick St Station because they have done a really cool station rebuild that reflects the musical scene of the area. The walls have soundwaves on them, with quotes from various bands, including Richards favourite, Powderfinger. The concrete columns that hold the roof up have silver tiles around the outside, so they resemble disco balls, and at the entrance to the station, lighting hangs from trusses like at a concert.

To be honest, pulling out MDMC would be a bit drastic given you'd lose so much money trying to sell it second hand, and would spend a lot of money actually de constructing it. Plus the space that it takes up is a bit useless anyway for anything more than a small coaster. I personally would just give it a more family friendly (and higher quality) re theme, and actually aim the ride at a group likely to enjoy it, instead of this lost cause of trying to sell it to thrill seekers.

Possibly due to the fact the video is about the Big Brother house, which a lot of people don't like/care about. Plus it was one of those slide show type videos, which I normally last about 20 seconds viewing.

Not that it really matters, but doesn't postage cost the same Australia wide? The ones I have (They'd probably be the same ones as you have anyway) I have found come in useful for adding stuff to the Database, given they show everything, and what themed areas things sit in.

Well, I think at the present time the whale watch cruises they run are the current substitute for whale content in the park. I don't think we'd see whales at Sea World for a number of reasons...the space required, the difficulty in actually getting a whale, and the sheer cost (It would undoubtedly be the most expensive exhibit in Sea Worlds History) A thing to remember is that whales don't fare to well in captivity, and have a considerably shorter lifespan....Its probably better to just not have them in the park.

This guy could perhaps point you in the right direction? http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?s...ost&p=30323

^Bingo

^Besides, there is a bit of American urban back street theming around Lethal Weapon. That said, I think going with the European village theme is far too similar to what is on offer at the Disney parks (Unless of course they have managed some sort of licencing agreement for some aspects of the show)

Can I get a photo of the mini lunar lander in the TOT queue? As for what Spongebob is like, not too bad for a family ride, though the things you lie on are too hard.

Well, they have them around the aptly named fountain of fame. But its good to hear that they are adding value to this new roof and actually tying it in to the parks underlying theme.

Haha, originally I was planning on heading down on a roughly 10 day cycle (Wednesday is my day off)..Go on a Wednesday, and then the weekend not directly following etc. But the slow pace for the time being has led me to abandon that for the time being. Joz, can you say when something interesting/milestone happens so I can come down (Or better still, take photos so I can save fuel...or is that not allowed after work?) Can't be stuffed going until say the majority of the footers are down. When they start putting track up I'll start going again more frequently. I thought that was just me being a smartarse with respect to the concept art? I thought Richo did a pretty bang up job with Motocoaster, especially getting the exclusive behind the scenes photos. I guess since its my first year up here I'm visiting more often then most of the other locals would, hence I often find myself doing a 'park crawl', start off at SW, drop in to WnW to see what is happening, finish the day at MW when it is quiet, head home... PS, the flume was being refilled the day I was there, and that new rock fountain was going, they did a really good job with it, concrete rocks seem to turn out so much better than the foam ones, it actually looked like granite and seemed as good as the Disney ones.

The only bit where that seems to have occurred is around the LSMs, and where the water tended to hit, and that there is dirt/grime build up, which just needs to be washed off rather than repainted. I mean, the turn that goes back inside the building on Superman Escape is quite dirty too, but the rest of the ride looks as good as opening day.

Yeah, to be honest I think virtually all of the last several posts could be deleted (This one included I suppose) As of yesterday the columns were all the way down to the big screen. I'd imagine the mebrane is still a little while off given they need to bridge between the columns with steel anyway.

^Really, it seemed fine to me whenever I have been there, still nice and shiny. Surely the ride wouldn't need repainting every 12 months, even if it is exposed to water? There are various amusement rides out there that have painted metal components exposed to water, surely they wouldn't all be this labour intensive?

Went down today, probably a bit of a wasted effort considering there have been very few changes apart from the existing footers being joined together. Turns out I misinterpreted the turn at the front of the site, at the moment it seems as if there will be two u turns down there, and they will be stacked above each other. So currently, the layout I can figure is this: The flume ride is being refilled though.

Well, something must be up with it, but they couldn't be repainting already:

Like this? Gogoboy, I sort of half agree...I probably would have directed that capital towards new attractions (though admittedly I doubt this is costing more than a couple of mil), but I'm still open to how this could end up looking, it could really change the dynamics of the park, and as has been said create a lot of new opportunities for events etc. Definitely a wait and see for me...Though if they start opening the park more often at night, I think this could look excellent at those times.

Your account didn't get deleted because you couldn't spell sacrilegious, it got deleted because you kept making stupid posts that often didn't make sense. By the way, sacrilegious is in the dictionary: It's also in the Firefox spell check, and it is on Google, and it is on Wikipedia so even if you didn't have an actual dictionary in the form of a book, you could have checked in these other places instead.

^ My second guess for how the roof will look is something like this:

Its Ash.1111s, Though what I cant work out is why on the front page it says about an application for a "white card - roller coaster" going in at DW, when there is nothing like it on the GCCC PD site.

The impression I am getting is that the roof will be a series of peaks/pyramid shapes. Those columns with the 4 'branch' type things on top will all be arranged in a grid throughout the area, and tubes will extend out from those stubby 'branches' and meet so you'd end up with a whole bunch of pyramid shaped roofs. Membrane roof?

I don't know where you are looking. But you go from here http://pdonline.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/maste...spx?page=search And use the search tools to bring up WVTPs big property at Oxenford , be it via map search or property enquiry.

Well, those were the sorts of thoughts I was having too. One thing I imagined was screens that would roll up from the sides and meet in the center (I'm imagining a peak vaulted roof as seen at Tokyo Disney rather than the Barrel Vaulted style seen at Universal Osaka) You would then have projectors mounted in the windows of the main street buildings that would be able to project onto these screens, and as was said before could relate to themed events, for example have swirling clouds and lightning during Halloween events, have a galaxy with UFOs whizzing across during the Sci Fi nights. Essentially it is a low budget version of that Fremont roof in Vegas (Since a LED based array would be very heavy and expensive) But yeah, special events and using the space as a huge undercover venue were my thoughts too, a great idea when you think about it, and the fact trees are coming back is a welcome piece of news. EDIT: Just looking today on GCCC PD Online , the thing that was approved for construction was A "SHADE SAIL FOR MOVIE WORLD MAIN STREET" Hmmmmm